Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-17
DIRECT FROM THE DEVIL
01118V 1 1IVUU I iii ou III
A Former Citizen OF Bolton Granted
Divorce on Grounds of Cruel Treat
ment and Abandonment.
Hsw Band Of Religious Fanatics
Wrought Rain to the Domestic
Happiness Of q Dszsn Families.
Happily Together Ter . Quarter OF .
Qe1tuarJ-An Interpreter CT Dreams.
SAnctfAcR tionfHts,

sanct,Ac Rtionfsts.
Special 70 the Gazette.
BELToN, TEX, Dec. 1S.-Probably the
most rem srkable aud sensational divorce
case which ever occurred In the state was
hat which terminated In the District
court this morning after occup ing all of
yesterday in its trial. The plaintiff was
Ben W. Raymond, formerly grocery
merchant doing business here, but of late
years making his temporary residence in
Bluedeld, n caragua, wnere he has accu-
mulated moderate fortune in the rubber
and fruit growing business. His petition
for divorce was fled on the 10th Of Octo-
Der during the present year, and the tech
nical ground upon which divorce was
sought were excessive cruel treatment
and abandonment on the part Of the wife
The case grows out OF the fact that the
wife IN 1879
JOINED THE sANCTUICATIONIsTs,
q band of religious fanatics, whose pecu-
liar teachings ana ilnuences have
wrought ruin to the domestic happiness
OF more than dozen families in this city
alone in the past ten years. The leading
and controlling spirit of the band is Mar
tina AcWhirter, mother Of Hsynond's
wife. and r many years resident Of
this county, where her husband was one
of the foremost pioneers, and up to the
hour OF his death was one Of the most
universally respected citizens OF the
state, holding high { iii ;es in the Masonic
and other orders of which he was mem
Der. Ia February last he died, and so
strong was the religious fanaticIsm which
controlled the wife, to whom he had been
married for over forty years and who had
borne him twelve childten, that he was
PERMITTED TO DIE
away from home unsolaced oy the pres
ence Of his wife or children, who belong
ed to the fanaticsl band, and his remains
were followed to the grave chiefly by
strsngers. Martha McWhirter first be.
came san Gifted some ten or twelve years
ago, and since then has been engaged 10
winning proselytes for her baad by every
means. The band owns It's property In
common and believes that it is sinful for
. woman to be unequally yoked with an
unbelieyer as wife. On account Of this
peculiar belief there are now five women
in the band who have abandoned their
homes and husbands to follow after this
Wild fanaticism. They dress plsinly and
do all manner Of work for hire. under the
Management of the McWnirter woman.
They now operate hotel and laundry
here, and created great sensation year
or two $50 oy
SETTING UP LAUNDRY
in the parlUrs of the home of Ohm Henry,
one OF the Oldest and weslthlest pioneers
Of this section, whose wife, after more
than quarter of century of welded
life, hso forsaken him to become sancti
fed. 1t was on account OF their associa-
ton with this band that in the autumn of
1879 mob visited the Dow brothers,
then recently arrived from Scotland, ana
took them out and administered q severe
whipping. This case at the time attracted
great attention on account of the investi-
CATION made by the Queens consul at
Galveston.
The announcement that the Raymond
divorce case would be tried during the
day was sufficient to cause tremendous
crowd made up Of the best and most re-
spected OF Belton's citizens to gather in
the District court rot IN. The wife, Ada
Raymond, had, at first, upon the fling of
the suit, shown no disposition to inter-
pose q l. gal resistance to her husbands
plea, but on Monday night last her
mother, Martha McWnirter. according to
the report
RECEIVED REVELATION
from God and at once fastened to engage
attorneys to fight the case. Raymond
with bis counsel appeared and announced
ready for trial, and the judge ordered the
case to proceed. The petition of Hay.
mond after the necessary legal formulas
and pre- iminaries sets up that he inter.
married with the defendant whose maiden
name Is McWhirter, IN Bolton, Tex On
the 10sh day of February 1873, and they
lived happily togede as husband and wife
until January 1879, that during
said time there were born to the plaintiff
and defendant three children, two girls
and one boy, Hattie, agedtwelve, George
ten and E nma aged eight years. The
plaintiff alleges that during the time the
plaintiff and defendant lived together a.
husband and wife the plaintiff discharged
his every duty to his wife and children,
supplying them with all the necessaries
of life and comforts that would
ADD TO THEIR HAPPINESS,
and says that during said time his wife
was kind and aftectionate; that In Janu-
ary, 1879, there crept into his house
DESTROYER that lodged in the bosom Of
his family, that poisoned the atmosphere
of bis once hsppy and pleasant home and
bl,gnted his life from that time until the
present, alienated his wife's affections,
estranged his children and made desolate
all that was ever pleasant,
happy and comfortable. This destroyer
Is composed OF srellgious band Of fanatics
calling themselves Ssnctihcationists,
that this band was lead and directed by
his wife's mother, and is composed
chiefly OF women who congregate to-
gether at private houses and other places
and detail to each other dreams and
they claim to have received
DIRECT FROM GOD,
and then Interpreting the same to suit
their own peculiar views and surround
ings, and they then blindly follow out
their said terpretations of the same IN
their domestic and business relations
with each other and with the world, and
that Martha McWhirter, the head OF
this sect, seems to Fave the
benefit of more revelations and dreams
than oil the others, and her interpretation